Forty-year-old Ella Rubenstein is an ordinary unhappy housewife with three children and an unfaithful husband, but her life begins to change dramatically when she takes a job as a reader for a literary agency. 

She is given a novel by an unknown first-time novelist, Aziz Zahara, about a time and place so different from her own. Her first assignment is a novel that centers on the thirteenth-century poet Rumi and his beloved Sufi teacher Shams of Tabriz. 

Her first reaction to the book is one of ambivalence. On the one hand, she finds the novel intriguing and feels moved by its author. On the other hand, she finds the book disjointed, confusing, and hard to understand. Regardless, she is drawn into a web of love, friendship, and feelings that defy simple categorization. 

As she reads, she begins to question the many ways she has settled for a conventional life devoid of passion and real love.